Wednesday 25 April 2012
ANZAC DAWN SERVICE ADDRESS
This Dawn Service has its origins in a military routine which is still followed by the Australian Army. During battle, the half-light of dawn was one of the most favoured times for an attack. Soldiers in defensive positions were woken in the dark before dawn, so by the time first light crept across the battlefield they were awake, alert, and manning their weapons; this is still known as the 'stand-to'. As dusk is equally favourable for attacks, the stand-to was repeated at sunset.
After the First World War, returned soldiers sought the comradeship they had felt in those quiet, peaceful moments before dawn. A dawn vigil, recalling the wartime front line practice of the dawn 'stand-to', became the basis of a form of commemoration in several places after the war.
Today we come to share this moment with returned service men and women and I have been pondering why? What gets us out of bed before sunup to come and stand here and remember something that happened on a far shore in different century?
It's so long ago and so far away and for many of us it is just a story, albeit a gripping and tragic one.Yet we come, young and old, of all nationalities and faiths, to stand at this place and pay our respects for those who paid the ultimate price in a war which extracted an unmeasurable cost from the countries involved.
Why do we come?
Do we come to remember the horror that is war? Perhaps.
Do we come to worship heroes? They did many extraordinary acts but they would deny they were heroes and reject being worshipped as such. They were simply men and women doing what had to be done.
Do we come out of a sense of national pride? Perhaps, but it is best we treat this emotion with great care as it can soon transform into nationalism, and in war, we have had enough of that.
Why do we come? Why do we stand to? I suspect it is out of gratitude - we are grateful for the sacrifice made by all service men and women in what ever war or conflict they served in, because by doing so they saved us from having to, they protected our lifestyle, they provided us with the freedom to be who we are today.
When we look around us and see what we have, what we have the freedom to be and do, what opportunities are there for us we are grateful for those who made it possible, for those who gave us our identity, ensured our culture and traditions and left us a legacy others are envious of.
What do they ask in return?
That we stand to and practice gratitude in all of our relationships, contacts and dealings with others, those we share this country with regardless of where they came from or why they came here.
That we stand to and do all that we do at home, at school, at work everyday with an attitude that is grateful for the opportunity to do so;
That we stand to and offer the opportunity for others to share in our gratitude by opening our country and hearts to those whose countries are unable to do so;
That we stand to and use every tool at our disposal to avoid war at all costs.
Why do we come? We come to say thanks digger, thanks for having the courage to face the horror in your present moment and make room for our future. Thanks.
Lest we forget.
Sunday 22 April 2012
Living Into The Resurrection
Last week an 8 year old boy walked into his classroom in a school in the US prepared for show and tell. When his turn came he produced his fathers coat. He put his hands in the pockets and produced 50 small plastic bags containing drugs. It was a surprise for his teacher but an even bigger surprise for his father when he came to collect his coat!
Show and tell is always a surprise as Thomas found out - yet Thomas's experience came from his questionning of the claims of his fellow disciples. The claims of Jesus' resurrection were not so much unbelievable for Thomas but required him to have an encounter with Jesus. When this happens he doesn't do what he said he needed to do - touch and feel the wounds on Jesus body - being shown the present Jesus was enough for him to see.
In discussion with a patient re treatment and drugs a doctor recently said,'do not give any drug or doctor the power over your life. See for yourself and decide.' Important words in a world where science has become the most powerful good news and where people give away responsibility to others - primaily through diagnosis - hallelujah, I have an excuse for my behaviour.
Thomas did not give his power to live into the ressurrection story away to others who had seen Jesus. He retained the right to move into the resurrection experience at his own time and space. Interestingly Jesus honours that and makes it possible for him to do so. One little meeting was all it took to kickstart Thomas' into a new man, but it was accomplished at his pace.
The resurrection is key to our faith. The possibility of hope and light after the dark night of the soul which was Good Friday and the subsequent Saturday transforms the life of those with Jesus, and has the possibility of transforming ours. Yet it is more than the physical resurrection story of Jesus. It is how we see the world, the circumstances of our lives and where we are now.
I fear too many Christians are locked into a world view that is Good Friday - their life is dark, of little hope and they cannot or do not see the green shoots of resurrection rising under their feet. While they know the world has changed, and they need to embrace that change, they are locked into failed mindsets, pointless ideological positions and structures which prevent them doing so. Perhaps they are locked in Saturday, the inbetween space betweeen despair and hope unable to make the move into full blown possibility. They can see clearly what has happened, the world has changed, yet they can't see what is coming, so they stay where they are, waiting for some certainty before they move forward, before they embrace the green shoots of hope that is the resurrection.
Living in the resurrection is a dangerous place. It asks us to leave behind old paradigms and ways of doing things and of being in the world, and to embrace risk, ridicule and failure. It asks us to see for ourselves the possibilities and to seek after them with all our being. It asks to see what is all around us - life, hope and adventure - it asks us not to give away our power to others, to the what if's, to the looming disaster and the perceived certainty of failure. It says too us all things are possible, it says to us go on, step out and discover the excitement of being alive when you where once dead, trapped in fear, locked in Good Friday or Saturday.
In the movie the best exotic marigold hotel the Indian proprietor of the hotel says, 'Everything will work out in the end; if it hasn't worked out, it's not the end.' If you haven't seen the movie, please do so. It is a movie about the resurrection, those who choose to embrace and those who choose not to, who want what they had, not what is there for them now. The characters embrace, slowly the possibility of the future and in doing so discover themselves. Each grows into the idea and experience in their own way and time, some, alas, do not.
And that is the truth about resurrection and being resurrection people - it is something we grow into. We grow into a changed viewpoint, a new perspective on the world. We see it differently and we do life differently. We take control, we push the boundaries, we explore new posssibilities and take enormous risks, aware that if it doesn't work out this time, it's not the end. The resurrection is our life now and it's our choice whether to live it or not. Choose to be a resurrection adventurer and go for the ride of your life. It will challenge and scare you, but it will always be full of surprises and new experiences. Go on, I dare you!
Show and tell is always a surprise as Thomas found out - yet Thomas's experience came from his questionning of the claims of his fellow disciples. The claims of Jesus' resurrection were not so much unbelievable for Thomas but required him to have an encounter with Jesus. When this happens he doesn't do what he said he needed to do - touch and feel the wounds on Jesus body - being shown the present Jesus was enough for him to see.
In discussion with a patient re treatment and drugs a doctor recently said,'do not give any drug or doctor the power over your life. See for yourself and decide.' Important words in a world where science has become the most powerful good news and where people give away responsibility to others - primaily through diagnosis - hallelujah, I have an excuse for my behaviour.
Thomas did not give his power to live into the ressurrection story away to others who had seen Jesus. He retained the right to move into the resurrection experience at his own time and space. Interestingly Jesus honours that and makes it possible for him to do so. One little meeting was all it took to kickstart Thomas' into a new man, but it was accomplished at his pace.
The resurrection is key to our faith. The possibility of hope and light after the dark night of the soul which was Good Friday and the subsequent Saturday transforms the life of those with Jesus, and has the possibility of transforming ours. Yet it is more than the physical resurrection story of Jesus. It is how we see the world, the circumstances of our lives and where we are now.
I fear too many Christians are locked into a world view that is Good Friday - their life is dark, of little hope and they cannot or do not see the green shoots of resurrection rising under their feet. While they know the world has changed, and they need to embrace that change, they are locked into failed mindsets, pointless ideological positions and structures which prevent them doing so. Perhaps they are locked in Saturday, the inbetween space betweeen despair and hope unable to make the move into full blown possibility. They can see clearly what has happened, the world has changed, yet they can't see what is coming, so they stay where they are, waiting for some certainty before they move forward, before they embrace the green shoots of hope that is the resurrection.
Living in the resurrection is a dangerous place. It asks us to leave behind old paradigms and ways of doing things and of being in the world, and to embrace risk, ridicule and failure. It asks us to see for ourselves the possibilities and to seek after them with all our being. It asks to see what is all around us - life, hope and adventure - it asks us not to give away our power to others, to the what if's, to the looming disaster and the perceived certainty of failure. It says too us all things are possible, it says to us go on, step out and discover the excitement of being alive when you where once dead, trapped in fear, locked in Good Friday or Saturday.
In the movie the best exotic marigold hotel the Indian proprietor of the hotel says, 'Everything will work out in the end; if it hasn't worked out, it's not the end.' If you haven't seen the movie, please do so. It is a movie about the resurrection, those who choose to embrace and those who choose not to, who want what they had, not what is there for them now. The characters embrace, slowly the possibility of the future and in doing so discover themselves. Each grows into the idea and experience in their own way and time, some, alas, do not.
And that is the truth about resurrection and being resurrection people - it is something we grow into. We grow into a changed viewpoint, a new perspective on the world. We see it differently and we do life differently. We take control, we push the boundaries, we explore new posssibilities and take enormous risks, aware that if it doesn't work out this time, it's not the end. The resurrection is our life now and it's our choice whether to live it or not. Choose to be a resurrection adventurer and go for the ride of your life. It will challenge and scare you, but it will always be full of surprises and new experiences. Go on, I dare you!
Monday 16 April 2012
Good Friday - Crossing the Yellow Lines
A few nights ago on tv, we watched a pavement painter create a 3-d drawing of a waterfall. As he was working people walked back and forward across the emerging artwork, some pushing prams, others on their mobiles, still others on their mobiles and pushing prams.
The next door I walked out of Tweed Centro through the undercover carpark where a worker was painting yellow lines on the edge of the foot path. I asked him if anybody had walked across his painting, he answered no, not yet. I recalled for him the tv show and the painters experience. He said, it will happen, people are in their own world and just don't see. We laughed and I moved to cross the road. As I did I was passed by an older gentleman. As I crossed I turned just in time to see the older gentleman walk right across the freshly painted foot path. I caught the eye of the painter and we chuckled.
In our own world is a fair comment on our lives and the experience of Mary outside the time.
Mary saw the empty tomb and was overcome by her personal grief.
Mary was engrossed in her loss, her beloved Rabbi was not only dead, but now his body was missing.
So much so that Mary failed to see possibility of the new day dawning.
Good Friday and Easter Sunday are both a clarion call to widen our worldview, to look wider than ourselves and how we individually and personally feel about what is happening to us, and see others, not as objects, competitors or oppostion, but as ourselves. To recognise that the pain we experience is not special, it is not restricted just to me, it is the pain that every other feels in their own particular way.
Good Friday is the day Jesus joined humanity to share our pain; Easter day is the day when Jesus, calling our names as he did to Mary, calls us to see the new shoots of life, to see that life only ever rises out of pain, and we can only experience life with others if we first share their pain.
The next door I walked out of Tweed Centro through the undercover carpark where a worker was painting yellow lines on the edge of the foot path. I asked him if anybody had walked across his painting, he answered no, not yet. I recalled for him the tv show and the painters experience. He said, it will happen, people are in their own world and just don't see. We laughed and I moved to cross the road. As I did I was passed by an older gentleman. As I crossed I turned just in time to see the older gentleman walk right across the freshly painted foot path. I caught the eye of the painter and we chuckled.
In our own world is a fair comment on our lives and the experience of Mary outside the time.
Mary saw the empty tomb and was overcome by her personal grief.
Mary was engrossed in her loss, her beloved Rabbi was not only dead, but now his body was missing.
So much so that Mary failed to see possibility of the new day dawning.
Good Friday and Easter Sunday are both a clarion call to widen our worldview, to look wider than ourselves and how we individually and personally feel about what is happening to us, and see others, not as objects, competitors or oppostion, but as ourselves. To recognise that the pain we experience is not special, it is not restricted just to me, it is the pain that every other feels in their own particular way.
Good Friday is the day Jesus joined humanity to share our pain; Easter day is the day when Jesus, calling our names as he did to Mary, calls us to see the new shoots of life, to see that life only ever rises out of pain, and we can only experience life with others if we first share their pain.
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